A collection of Polaroid photos auctioned by Polaroid themselves (to pay debtors), made $7m in the process, with more photos expected to top $12m. Some photos, like this Andy Warhol self-portrait, fetched $254,500. One photo, three times that.

The priciest photo auctioned off was Ansel Adams' Clearing Winter Storm, shot at Yosemite. One lucky bidder whacked $722,500 down on the table for that. It's a beautiful photo, shot in 1938, but the mind boggles that a flimsy photograph can cost the same amount as a large house. It broke all estimations for the photo, which was thought to go for between $300,000 - $500,000.

Polaroid, whose financial troubles have been cataloged right here on Gizmodo the past few years, is selling 1,260 of the 16,000 images that make up the Polaroid Collection, to pay off debts. Sotheby's is slicing off a 10 per cent commission, but those $7m earnings on the first 279 photos (in 100 lots) should hopefully go some way to repairing Polaroid's fortunes. [Sothebys via BJP via 1001NoisyCameras]